Time to allow visits: Vaccine success supports reopening in long-term care, advocates say
State and federal officials are being urged to ease visitation restrictions as COVID-19 vaccinations continue and cases fall among residents.
State and federal officials are being urged to ease visitation restrictions as COVID-19 vaccinations continue and cases fall among residents.
Although they are not obliged to do so, 36 states so far have told federal health officials that first doses should go to long-term care facilities, the COO of Operation Warp Speed said Wednesday.
Just weeks before an expected vaccine rollout, and with final allocation decisions in states’ hands, industry advocates are urging governors to ensure long-term care residents and staff are among the first in line.
The nation’s largest nursing home association is calling on state governors to prioritize residents and staff in long-term care facilities for an eventual COVID-19 vaccine as the leaders prepare to submit plans on how their state will distribute the doses.
Now that the U.S. Senate has apparently decided to make healthcare somebody else’s problem, I suggest keeping an eye on another pack of politicians: the governors.
Under a newly expanded Medicaid program option, states stand to reap billions of dollars in what amounts to free money. Much of this could go toward better resident care. But some governors can’t help themselves and are acting stupid.
When the Supreme Court ruled that most of Obamacare could stay on the books, it included a notable caveat: States couldn’t be forced to participate in its expanded Medicaid provisions. Since then, this program’s boundaries have become foggier than an al fresco breakfast in San Diego.
The governors of 15 Republican-leaning states have signaled that they will not participate in the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, a new analysis finds.
Providers could be facing calls for cuts in benefits and demands for more effective drug purchasing in the wake of a letter from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to the nation’s governors. Sebelius sent the missive as a reminder on ways states could more efficiently utilize their Medicaid programs.